A Standard Wedding Day

A wedding day with KGM expressions begins with us showing up well before your ceremony wherever the bride will be getting ready. We’ll usually arrive a few minutes early to photograph all the little details like flowers, shoes, dress, rings, and anything else that’s important to you. We will both be hanging out with the bride and her wedding party just grabbing candids and doing our best to help everybody relax. That’s an important part of working with us; we are all about staying relaxed and having fun. We’ll pick a spot with some nice lighting to capture the maid of honor or bride’s mother cinching up the wedding dress, helping the bride with her jewelry, and making the veil just right. Next, if there is time, we’ll usually take some group portraits of family, bridesmaids, and any friends that are there. Even though the groups will be posed, we will both be capturing candids the entire time. We always like to take some nice portraits of the bride alone. A full length to show off the beautiful dress, a sweet portrait by soft window light, or a quiet moment alone to take in the day. We do pose some of these but try our best to make them feel natural. A lot of the time we will simply tell a bride where to stand and see what she naturally does, which can make for a nice relaxed moment.

At this point we usually head over to where the ceremony will be taking place to get a few shots of the groom and groomsmen getting themselves ready for the ceremony. If the guys are getting ready in the same hotel, or within a few blocks from the bride, we will make a trip to see them. The guys usually don’t need too much time to get ready so a short photo session right before the ceremony is usually enough. One of us will also be waiting to photograph the bride as she arrives at the ceremony and get some candids as her and her entourage arrive.

Another option if you would like is to have a “first look” which is when the bride and groom see each other before the ceremony for photos. What we like to do is set up a private setting for the wedding couple to share a special moment together and capture both of your expressions from a distance. A few of our past couples were kind enough to write their experience which you can view here.

During the ceremony we will cover different angles, and capture the bride walking down the aisle as well as possibly an emotional moment right before she walks down the aisle. There are always many things going on during an average wedding ceremony, exchanging of the rings, the first kiss, all things that we will be on the lookout for. We will both capture different perspectives, and try to get as many different reactions as possible.

After the ceremony it’s time for the family and group portraits. We usually try to get all the family groups done as quickly as possible so they can move on to the reception, and then we’ll work with the whole wedding party.

Finally it’s time for some portraits with the happy couple. This is one of our favorite times, and it’s when we can really get creative. We’ll usually try to capture a good mix of fun, candid, and romantic pictures during this session, and of course the more time the better. We always tell our couples that they will wear out before we do. We are happy to talk to you about the timing of your wedding day and help you try to maximize your time for photography on the big day.

At this point it’s time for everybody to start partying, and of course we will be there to capture all the fun at the reception. We’ve both been known to be dancing on the sides of the dance floor (camera in hand of course to capture all the best candids) and just having a blast with everybody. We will be there for all the events, first dance, toast, parent dances, right on through to the cake cutting and any other important events at your reception.

For some of our couples it can be nice to sneak away from the reception for a few minutes and step outside for a sunset or night time photo. It gives them a chance to enjoy one more quiet moment together before getting back to the party. It is totally up to you if you want to take a few moments to do this at your wedding.

So that’s an average wedding with KGM expressions. Every wedding is different of course and doesn’t follow any strict guidelines. The examples above are just meant to give you a feeling of what it’s like to have us around on your wedding day. We always try to capture the style and uniqueness of each wedding and of course have fun.View an example of an entire wedding.